


Fortunate Son

by CaesiumDressing



Series: Huxloween 2017: Huxloween Rides Again [11]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bad Ideas, Bad Parenting, Blood Magic, Fortune Telling, M/M, Stupid choices, Tarot Cards, freaky boxes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 06:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12337350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaesiumDressing/pseuds/CaesiumDressing
Summary: Ben waits for his dad in a filthy booth in a hutt's cantina.





	Fortunate Son

Ben Solo sat alone at a table close to the back of the cantina. His father had slipped away for a moment to “grab some drinks”. Judging by how long he had taken he was likely doing business somewhere in the back with the hutts Ben had seen slithering about the front of this place. The boy slumped in his place in the booth and gazed around.

His eyes caught a glint of something hastily shoved behind the beat up napkin holder that was bolted to the edge of their grimy table. He slipped his hand into the crack between the wall and the napkin stand and grasped at the thing. It was round, greasy, and warm? Suddenly he felt something squirm around his fingers. Ben snatched his hand back and gaped at it. There was nothing there, no sign of any thing that had touched him. He stood and craned his neck trying to catch sight of whatever lurked behind the table’s napkin dispenser. All he could see was the strange glinting. Licking his lips and glancing around he worked up the courage to thrust his hand back into the gap and grab at the thing. This time there was no jarring movement, instead his hand came back with a doll’s head attached to a slotted box.

Gingerly Ben set it on the table in front of him and took a closer look. Instantly he felt revulsion wash over him. Ben had seen many strange creatures in his young life. Traveling around the galaxy with a notorious smuggler tended to lend itself to that, but this was different; somehow wrong. The parts of the head where the skin was to be were mottled in green and purple on a field of gray. It’s face was twisted in a vicious sneer, teeth bared, and eyes shining black in the low light of the cantina. Around the bottom of the head was a filthy piece of sackcloth that could be raised as a hood in a crude mockery of an old Jedi seer. If the thing hadn’t given Ben such a bad feeling he’d probably keep it to show uncle Luke the next time he came to visit.

His eyes then drifted to the small slot at the base of the thing. Slightly above it was a square about the size of a finger. Ben tipped the box back and noticed another faint glint at the far back of the box. Without thinking about the consequences, he wiggled his index finger inside the small square to fish out whatever he had seen shining there. Instead he felt a sharp prick at the tip of his finger. With a hiss he pulled his hand away, examining the swelling drop of blood forming there. As he gaped at his hand he noticed a little flash from the and a sound that reminded him of a laugh come from the direction of the box. His head snapped up to see a card slide out of the slot under the square he’d stuck his finger into and onto the table. Something about the head’s sneer seemed meaner than before and in a sudden fit of rage he slapped the thing back towards the wall. He heard it slam and tumble behind the booth. Instantly he regretted it, glancing around to see if anyone had seen him act out. The other patrons we paying him no mind.

He steadied himself and looked to the table again. Sitting there was a waxed paper card, with the same pattern as a normal playing card from the back. When he turned it over he knew this was no standard card. Instead of a regular suit and number there was a wheel in the center with spokes radiating out. Each of the spokes had ancient runes inscribed on them. He wasn’t familiar with the language, but he could sense that there was something significant about them. Behind the wheel stood a black clad figure with flaming red hair, a rare one to be sure. Ben felt drawn to this man, something was so enticing about him. Either the way he was drawn with such authority, or the way his eyes seemed to be watching from the card itself called Ben’s gaze in a way that nothing before had. Ben found himself breathless for a moment before he heard a voice with a nasal core accent speak to him from somewhere beneath the table where the Seer box had fallen.

“We will bring the galaxy to order together, be sure of that.”

Ben dove underneath the table looking for the box, wanting to find it and stick it in his bag for further study, but the thing was gone. There wasn’t anything left, not even a chipped bit of wood.

“Ben?’ It was Han, back from whatever business he’d been taking care of. Ben moved to crawl back up into his seat but hesitated for a moment to slip the card into an inner pocket of his vest.

"Ben?!” came Han’s voice again, more frantic. Ben scrambled back into his seat, clumsily cracking his head on the way up. He caught sight of his father’s panicked eyes for a brief moment before his face went back to the casual collected grin he usually sported.

“There you are kid. I’d thought I’d lost you. What were you doing under the table?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought I saw some coins that someone dropped. It was not that,” Ben answered with a grimace, lying expertly.

Han chuckled.

“It’s never a good idea to go looking into the dark corners of a hutt’s cantina Ben, you never know what you’ll find” he said, ruffling the boy’s scraggly hair. “C'mon, we gotta get back home. Your mom is having Uncle Luke over for dinner. He’s really excited to see you.”

The way Han looked at him when he said that gave Ben a funny feeling. There was some sort of sadness that flashed through Han’s eyes. Ben chose to let it be, sliding out of the booth and grasping his father’s hand and they walked out of the cantina into the hot desert air.


End file.
